Really, this is so cold war era. At least the Soviet Union wasn't trying to hide their puppets. We all know America hates China,if we especially with that Xi as president but long before it was always China that stood in the way of America's Galactic Empire (even though they couldn't get the ability to get into Vietnam but I digress). So they have this official love hate relationship with North Korea, but they actually LOVE North Korea because one day their nuclear weapons will rain death upon China's neighbors, millions of refugees will flood north east China and American troops will advance to the Chinese border, without any retaliation to America ... right?

Only one problem; little bozo is a moron; gets stuck with UN sanctions. What to do? They need oil to keep their little state afloat. America can't directly give oil to NK so ... why not Panama?

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will provide Panama with whatever help it needs after the Central American country ditched long-standing ties with self-ruled Taiwan in June, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday after talks between the two countries’ presidents.

Why it's just another colony of the Galactic Eastern Empire™!

So let's see ... so far the oil tankers have come from ...Hong Kong ... a China puppetPanama ... another China puppet.

And yet the spokeperson for the Galactic Eastern Empire™ insists that they are American puppets.

We already established in your other thread that the first ship was operated by a Taiwanese company.

China may be friends with Panama but Panama has always been close with the US (which it has given permission to take military action on its canal and is its biggest trade partner). Panama is a US receptacle, not a Chinese one.

While Latin America used to be considered the United States’ geostrategic backyard, covered by the Monroe Doctrine, Washington has been neglecting and withdrawing from the region for a long while now. Twenty years ago, in 1997, U.S. Southern Command moved from Panama to Miami with revised priorities, objectives, and capabilities.

With this context in mind, it’s not clear whether the U.S. government received any prior notice before Panama officially recognized the People’s Republic of China over the Republic of China (Taiwan) in June 2017, an unthinkable scenario just a few short decades ago.

Thus far, the Trump administration strongly prefers a policy of withdrawal and retrenchment rather than engagement, prompting Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, to describe Trump’s foreign policy as “the Withdrawal Doctrine.” While there is a legitimate debate over whether the United States overplayed its hand after the unipolar moment following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Washington is now in danger of damaging its core interests through neglect.

Sorry Charlie, but Panama is now a part of the empire of China, not the United States.

There are articles like that about pretty much every single region titled 'as Trump abandons [name of place] China steps in'. Doesn't mean China has suddenly become boss of the whole world and no one cares what America thinks any more.

mrswdk wrote:There are articles like that about pretty much every single region titled 'as Trump abandons [name of place] China steps in'. Doesn't mean China has suddenly become boss of the whole world and no one cares what America thinks any more.